Mephiles the Dark
Mephiles the Dark (メフィレス, Mefiresu) is the malevolent conscience, mind and will of the sun god Solaris. Mephiles was born during the Solaris Project when the experimentations on Solaris split him into Mephiles and Iblis. After his birth, Mephiles was sealed inside the Scepter of Darkness by Shadow the Hedgehog, but was freed ten years later during a skirmish between Shadow, Rouge and Dr. Eggman. After his release, Mephiles orchestrated a centuries-long plan to release Iblis from Princess Elise and rejoin with it. Along the way, Mephiles attempted to sway Shadow to join him, but failed. Ultimately, Mephiles' plan succeeded about Iblis. He then reemerged with Iblis, remaking Solaris, but was defeated by Sonic, Shadow and Silver, and subsequently erased from existence. "It's futile. The world will betray you. Why fight at all? Why risk your life for those who will persecute you later?" :—Mephiles the Dark. Appearance :Voice actor: Travis Willinghamton (English), Takashi Nagasako (Japanese), Not Known (French), Not Known (Italian), Not Known (German), Not Known (Spanish) Biography Appearance Mephiles has three forms. First Form His original form, which is also his base, is an amorphous mass of darkness. Second Form In his second form, Mephiles appeared almost identical to Shadow the Hedgehog, aside from having green eyes with slit pupils, no mouth (though his muzzle moves when he speaks, as if he does have a mouth), and the fact that everything that is red on Shadow is a pale powder blue on Mephiles. Third Form His third and most common form was a crystalline, anthropomorphic hedgehog with no visible mouth, nose, or feet. His eyes also change color in this form, gaining a red sclera and lighter green irises. Attributes: Gallery Background Personality Unlike most of the villains in the Sonic series, who are driven by a lust for power or revenge, Mephiles (according to Shadow) only seems to crave destruction. He is portrayed as a cold, manipulative, cruel, sadistic, and ruthless villain with no sense of compassion. He would do anything to accomplish his goals, even if it means taking innocent lives. Mephiles happens to take great pleasure and delight in hurting others and has been shown to have a very warped and twisted sense of humor, making him a very sadistic and psychotic individual. For example, he made it his sole mission to cause pain to Elise throughout the entire course, and even broke out into a maniacal laughter when he taunts Omega by telling him he would be reprogrammed to capture Shadow. Mephiles is also highly intelligent, capable of using and manipulating people to further his evil plans. This is shown when he preyed upon Silver's frustration and desire to save the world, by deceiving him into thinking that Sonic was responsible for the devastation of his future, knowing that killing a hero's life would have done the exact opposite of what Silver was trying to achieve. Mephiles also has nihilistic tendencies, as evidenced in his final fight against Shadow, where he asks why Shadow even bothers fighting at all, and why Shadow even bothers defending humanity when they will inevitably persecute him later. However, it seems that he has some manners, as he bowed to Shadow after taking his form, though this was most likely done as a mocking gesture. It has also been speculated that Mephiles might also be somewhat of a coward, judging from several actions he displayed throughout the series: *Instead of fighting Sonic face-to-face, he appears behind him without Sonic or Elise knowing, and proceeds to attack from behind. In battle, the action of attacking from behind is usually an act of cowardice. **In addition to this, he creates a distraction to keep either of them from noticing him while he proceeded to kill. *During both of his fights, Mephiles hardly attacks on his own without aid, either by summoning shadows, or cloning himself to use as distractions. He uses the shadows in the first boss fight as shields, and increases the number of them when you get too close. *During his fights, he waits to attack Shadow until his back is turned. *He also doesn't fight Shadow directly until he expels him from his own shadow. **In the second fight, you cannot face him until you clear the floor of the seething shade covering it, having to use Chaos Boost to expel him. *He managed to convince Silver and Blaze into attempting to kill Sonic, which would in turn release Iblis, though there was a much stronger form of Iblis already free in his time while he had a Chaos Emerald at hand. *In the time ten years previous to the story that takes place, when Shadow corners the newly created Mephiles before sealing him away, Mephiles' voice sounds startled if not frightened before quickly shifting into his more recognizable tone as he makes a threat to Shadow. Mephiles also seems to have a habit of waving his hands when he speaks, as he has been seen doing so in nearly all of his appearances. He ranges from holding his hands up high while making a declaration, to holding them out to the sides slightly or even in front of himself while making himself appear as an ally to Silver and Blaze. Mephiles also showed limited interest in people, taking particular interest in Shadow, Omega, Silver and Sonic, the latter only because he needed to kill him. Mephiles is shown to hold a particular hate for Shadow since it was he who sealed him in the Scepter of Darkness. This being said, Mephiles did not acknowledge Rouge, Blaze or Elise, whom he would have been aware of, while the rest of the cast did not know of him just as much as he did them. Relationships Friends/Allies Family *Iblis (half of Solaris; raw power) Neutral Rivals Enemies *Thomas Jones *Team Sonic **Sonic the Hedgehog **Miles "Tails" Prower **Knuckles the Echidna *Christopher Thorndyke *Team Rose **Amy Rose **Cream the Rabbit **Big the Cat *Vanilla the Rabbit *Emeral *Team Chaotix **Vector the Crocodile **Espio the Chameleon **Charmy Bee *Sticks the Badger *Team Dark **Shadow the Hedgehog **Rouge the Bat **E-123 Omega *Tikal the Echidna *Silver the Hedgehog *Blaze the Cat *Shahra the Genie *NiGHTS *Shreddix *Eggman Empire **Doctor Eggman **Jack Robotnik **Decoe **Bocoe **Bokkun **Orbot **Cubot Abilities and Powers Mephiles can take various forms by absorbing an individual's shadow, which resulted in his gaining his common form. Subtle differences are applied, however, such as a far darker shade of various colors, a pale complexion, and bestial green eyes. Besides actually taking on a form with someone's shadow, he also can grow stronger by absorbing shadows, especially if it comes from the same type of shadow as the being whose shadow he absorbed earlier outside of time counts him as a very powerful character in the series. This is especially evident with his second encounter, where he managed to effortlessly escape imprisonment from another Scepter of Darkness due to his present self having gone back in time absorbing Shadow's shadow while the latter was sealing away Mephiles' past self. Mephiles can even manipulate and move through time with an ability similar to Chaos Control. Whether or not this was due to taking Shadow's form through his shadow or he had this power all along is debatable; however, being one half of the time god Solaris, the latter seems more probable. In addition, he has enough control over his abilities of time manipulation to separate pursuing enemies, as evidenced by how he managed to escape Omega and Shadow after their first fight in the future. His primary offensive technique is a massive sphere of black energy that is spawned from his hands that home in on their targets. He can also use the energy spheres to move himself and others through time. Since Mephiles absorbed Shadow's shadow, he also has the ability to actually be his shadow, as seen in the first boss fight against him. Furthermore, he can alter his physical form to sink into the ground and merge with the shadow of another. He can also manipulate shadows to create "clones" of himself, although they are warped and imperfect without the power of the Chaos Emerald. He can also merge the clones together to make large shadow monsters. As seen in Shadow's second "Showdown with Mephiles", Mephiles can blast opponents away by firing shockwaves of energy at them. Mephiles' final attack used before fusing with Iblis to become Solaris was a beam of energy that he extends from his right hand. Mephiles appears to be immortal, surviving every fight he takes part in, and whenever he is beaten he seems to just shift into his base form. Whether or not he is capable of feeling pain is unknown; although he reacts to taking damage during his boss battles with Shadow, he merely stood and allowed himself to be shot multiple times when confronting Omega at Wave Ocean. Indeed, when defeated by Shadow a second time, he also declared himself to be immortal, and invincible. Because he is the mind and will of Solaris, Mephiles is very intelligent. This is shown in his ability as a skilled manipulator, being able to easily manipulate Silver and Blaze into nearly getting his desired result. He is also shown to have adept knowledge on using modern technology, as evidence by knowing exactly which files in Dr. Eggman's computer to use when trying to persuade Silver to assassinate Sonic. This is most likely due to his apparently endless lifespan and time travel power allowing him to study the world around him for as long as he needs to. Mephiles is very skillful in the usage of the Chaos Emeralds' reality warping capabilities. He can release unseen shockwaves from them, have them instill visions in others, blind opponents, and warp the other six Emeralds to his location instantly using just one. Presumably in the latter's case, he utilized the Chaos Emeralds' magnetic properties to pull this off. Physical Abilities Combat Skills *Time travel *Harnessing Chaos energy *Iblis fusion *Shape-shifting *Flight *Energy projection *Immortality *Master manipulator *Flawed duplication *Darkness Manipulation Fighting Style Techniques and Moves Attacks Skills Miscellaneous Skills Transformations Mephiles's monstrous form :Main article: Mephiles's monstrous form Mephiles's monstrous form is a state that Mephiles achieves after empowering his darkness with the power of the Chaos Emeralds and fusing with his shadows, creating a giant body that he controls. In this state, both his physical strength and durability are increased and he can fire large lasers. Weaknesses As a being of darkness, Mephiles is vulnerable to light-based attacks, such as the Chaos Spear, which renders him immobile. His shadow-mending skills are also not infallible as intense power can force him out of other people's shades. History Mephiles was accidentally created during the Solaris Project, under the supervision of the Duke of Soleanna. In one of the Project's experiments, Solaris was split into two separate entities: Iblis, its raw power, and Mephiles, its cunning mind. As Mephiles was trying to escape the facility, he was sealed in the Scepter of Darkness by Shadow the Hedgehog, who had traveled through time by ten years before the events of the present. As Mephiles was sealed inside the scepter, he vowed that he would not forget Shadow and that one day, he would kill him. Synopsis Etymology Mephiles' name is derived from Mephistopheles, the demon from the legend of Faust, and possibly after Mephitis, the personification of the poisonous gases emitted from the ground in swamps and volcanic vapors. Mephiles may also be inspired by the false prophet in the Book of Revelations of the Bible as he works in the shadows and manipulates the characters into doing things that would only further his own goals. Silver's theme song, "Dreams of an Absolution", also calls him a preacher who lies which may also be a reference to this. Another possible origin for Mephiles' name may be from Arabic, similar to Iblis. Mephiles could refer to "Muffles" (مفلس), in Arabic Muffles means "broke", "a person with nothing". The term extends not just to material objects, but to everything non- material as well, such as good deeds, emotions, hopes, dreams. In religious context, Mephiles/Muffles/مفلس is a name for the devil (similar to Iblis) and it refers to him as having no good deeds, no hope for redemption, and no chance of salvation. Taken this in mind, and Mephiles nature in the game, they would seem similar. Trivia *When in his crystalline form, Mephiles' white "crest" appears somewhat in the shape of a bird, the animal that makes up the Solaris emblem. *Dr. Eggman had shown an interest in capturing Mephiles. He tried to take the Scepter of Darkness, and later when Shadow asked Eggman who Mephiles was, he said he would tell him if Shadow brought Mephiles to him. It isn't stated why Eggman wanted to capture Mephiles, but based on his actions in the game, it can be guessed that he had hoped to harness Mephiles' powers to travel through time if he failed to do so with Iblis, or that he needed both Iblis and Mephiles to completely control time. This last possibility is the most likely, since the full Solaris is a being that exists throughout all of time, and Iblis does not appear to have any time travel powers. *Being that Mephiles took on Shadow's appearance by absorbing Shadow's shadow, it can be assumed that he could have taken on anyone's appearance if he was released into their shadow. *Even though Mephiles appears to lack a visible mouth, the general area on his "muzzle" moves in and out as he speaks in a manner similar to an inflating balloon. *When Mephiles is in the future, he has a purple Chaos Emerald, but later he doesn't have it or doesn't use it for some reason until the last story. However since he can travel through time, the actions he does throughout the game could be in any unspecified order. *It should be noted that Mephiles may have first heard his name while Shadow trails after him during the Aquatic Base level, as Shadow declares "Mephiles! I won't let you escape!". Since Mephiles had not taken a name at the time, Shadow may have inadvertently given him the idea for it, and the rest he may have come up with himself. *Many aspects of Mephiles, most notably his hateful connection to Shadow, his ability to make clones of himself, and his desire to flat out destroy existence in itself, bears several similarities to the Matrix villain Agent Smith. Also, his implied hatred of humanity mirrors Agent Smith's hatred of humanity. Shadow and Mephiles' final conversation in "Showdown with Mephiles" mirrors a similar conversation during the final fight between Neo and Agent Smith in "Matrix Revolutions". *Mephiles never directly spoke to any female characters he encountered. *It's possible that Mephiles might have a low tolerance for aggravation, which can be seen when Shadow refused to join with him. The result of that was Mephiles changing form and during the following boss fight, as well as the followup one later, snippets of dialogue suggest a more aggressive side, in which he will growl and even make threats. However, being that both fights are paired against Shadow and only Shadow, it's also likely that due to Mephiles' hatred towards him, that this was merely a display of hostility. *In his crystalline form, it's possible that his quills and ears, and for that matter, the rest of himself, is as pliable as it would be in his Shadow form, as several show the quills bending and being influenced by movement, and in one scene, his ear twitches slightly. *It is unknown why Mephiles tried to go into the past to find Chaos Emeralds and trick Silver into killing Sonic instead of just using his purple Chaos Emerald to join with Iblis in the future. It could be because Iblis evolved so much he could not fuse with Mephiles, or to ensure that Sonic's death would still occur so that Iblis would continue to exist at this point in the future (it is also possible that he could not go back to the exact moment where he and Iblis became two separate entities because he was already present). *In which when Solaris's core is destroyed, a faint "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!" can be heard in the background audio. The source of Solaris's death scream is almost certainly Mephiles as he is being disabled with Solaris's defeat. *Ian Flynn, current head writer for the Archie Comics, has expressed the opinion that Sega intended the Time Eater to be a sort of reborn Mephiles, some portion of him surviving the defeat of Solaris and the paradox that prevented his existence. However, no Sega statement is known to have been issued in response. Category:Mystical Beings Category:Males Category:Antagonists Category:Immortals Category:Deceased